Medical Humanitarianism: Ethnographies of Practice

Description

Medical humanitarianism—medical and other health-related initiatives undertaken in conditions born of conflict, neglect, or disaster —has a prominent and growing presence in international development, global health, and human security interventions. Medical Humanitarianism: Ethnographies of Practice features twelve essays that fold back the curtains on the individual experiences, institutional practices, and cultural forces that shape humanitarian practice. Contributors offer vivid and often dramatic insights into the experiences of local humanitarian workers in the Afghan-Pakistan border areas, national doctors coping with influxes of foreign humanitarian volunteers in Haiti, military doctors working for the British Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, and human rights-oriented volunteers within the Israeli medical bureaucracy. They analyze our contested understanding of lethal violence in Darfur, food crises responses in Niger, humanitarian knowledge in Ugandan IDP camps, and humanitarian departures in Liberia. They depict the local dynamics of healthcare delivery work to alleviate human suffering in Somali areas of Ethiopia, the emergency metaphors of global health campaigns from Ghana to war-torn Sudan, the fraught negotiations of humanitarians with strong state institutions in Indonesia, and the ambiguous character of research ethics espoused by missions in Sierra Leone. In providing well-grounded case studies, Medical Humanitarianism will engage both scholars and practitioners working at the interface of humanitarian medicine, global health interventions, and the social sciences. They challenge the reader to reach a more critical and compassionate understanding of humanitarian assistance. Cover Contents Foreword Bringing Life into Relief: Comparative Ethnographies of Humanitarian Practice PART I. INTIMATE INTERVENTIONS: HEALTH WORKER EXPERIENCES IN HUMANITARIAN CONTEXTS Chapter 1. Dignity Under Extreme Duress: The Moral and Emotional Landscape of Local Humanitarian Workers in the Afghan-Pakistan Border Areas Chapter 2. Compassion and Care at the Limits of Privilege: Haitian Doctors amid the Influx of Foreign Humanitarian Volunteers Chapter 3. Trust and Caregiving During a UNICEF-Funded Relief Operation in the Somali Region of Ethiopia PART II. THE ARCHITECTURE OF HUMANITARIAN KNOWLEDGE, ETHICS, AND IMPERATIVES Chapter 4. Evidence and Narratives: Recounting Lethal Violence in Darfur, Sudan Chapter 5. Life Beyond the Bubbles: Cognitive Dissonance and Humanitarian Impunity in Northern Uganda Chapter 6. Staging a ‘‘Medical Coup’’? Médecins Sans Frontières and the 2005 Food Crisis in Niger PART III. STRONG STATES, WEAK STATES, AND CONTESTED HEALTH SOVEREIGNTIES Chapter 7. What Happens When MSF Leaves? Humanitarian Departure and Medical Sovereignty in Postconflict Liberia Chapter 8. Humanitarianism and ‘‘Mobile Sovereignty’’ in Strong State Settings: Reflections on Medical Humanitarianism in Aceh, Indonesia Chapter 9. The British Military Medical Services and Contested Humanitarianism PART IV. THE AFTERLIVES OF INTERVENTION Chapter 10. Anthropology and Medical Humanitarianism in the Age of Global Health Education Chapter 11. The Creation of Emergency and Afterlife of Intervention: Reflections on Guinea Worm Eradication in Ghana Chapter 12. Medical NGOs in Strong States: Working the Margins of the Israeli Medical Bureaucracy Conclusion. A Measured Good List of Contributors Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z